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Monday, May 5, 2014

April Showers Have Brought May Flowers

I
am one of those rare people who does not get depressed when it is dark or when
it rains but I am glad to see the sunny May Flowers that appear after a month
of April Showers.

Today we will be focusing on
my 3 Favorite May Flowers:

1. Lilac

2.Lily of the Valley

3.Iris

These
3 flowers are visually stunning and amazingly aromatic!I wish that I could send the wonderful scent
of each one of these flowers over the internet.

Lilac

Here
in Michgian Lilac Bushes bloom at the beginning of May and have the most
tantalizing floral scent.There are also
so many different varieties of Lilacs: double lilac, light purple lilac, dark
purple lilac, white lilac, french lilac etc. - the list is endless.

Maintaining
Lilac Bushes

When
talking about maintaining Lilac bushes you first need to know if you have a
regular oldfashioned lilac bush or a "non-suckering" lilac bush
(please see the last 2 pictures in this section). Simply look at the
base of your lilac bush and if there are little lilac shoots growing, then you
have a regular lilac plant. Some people do not like the unkempt look of
the traditional lilac plant but I don't mind the wild look - I actually prefer
it. Over the years I have been able to start many new lilac bushes from
the suckers that my traditional lilac bush produced. I am able to
separate 1 or 2 lilac “suckers” about every 5 years - (I should add
"successfully separate"). There have been times when I tried to
separate these suckers too soon and they just ended up dying - trial and error
is the best way to learn in this case.

The lilac bush in the picture on the left has produced
many "suckers" but none are large

enough to separate. The lilac bush in the picture on the right is about 45 years old (which
is young in Lilac years) (This one on the right is a "non-suckering" lilac
bush)

Lily
of the Valley

Every
year I am amazed at how this tiny delicate flower can emit such a powerful
fragrance that seems to travel for acres. When in season, the Lily of the
Valley makes the entire neighborhood smell fresh, green and
delightful. In my opinion, nothing in the world smells like the
Lily of the Valley.

This precious flower blooms in mid-May. They
are very easy to grow but if left alone for years they can take over your
garden. Therefore, Lily of the Valley plants should be
split every couple years. Although, if you have the space, I would
recommend allowing these plants to spread. I like that wild look and it
is exciting to watch the changing Lily landscape - it's almost like a Valley of
Lilies (see picture below).

Once all of
the Lily of the Valley plants have totally stopped flowering, use a shovel
and dig up a thick clump of Lily of the Valley plants (see picture
below left). Then gently divide each stem base and you will
notice that each stem has it's own root system. They should separate
fairly easily (see picture below right). You will see that I was able
to split my clump of Lily of the Valley into 13 plants. Then of
course, you would plant each separated stalk where you desire.

Iris

To me Irises smell like cotton candy or some kind of sweet hard candy - but don't eat it!! (Seriously - don't ever eat these flowers!). Irises bloom at the end of May and some years (here in Michigan) even the beginning of June.

You know it's
time to split or thin your Irises when they start to spread into the grass
(lol). As you can see by the picture below that is exactly what
happened with my Iris patch.After the
Irises have finished flowering, simply remove your Irises with a
shovel (you will need to dig down 6 to 8 inches to make sure you get the
root base). Then look at each stalk and follow it down to the base,
there should be a twisted bulb-like root for each stalk. Now separate
each stalk - you might have to snap or cut the thick Iris roots apart.
(see pictures below)

Then simply plant each new
Iris in it's new location. Splitting should be done about every 3 years
or whenever you notice a large conglomeration of Irises.

Free "Spring Card" Printable - click HERE(NOTE: This card will take up a lot of ink - I suggest going to Office Max or a Fed Ex Printing store and pay 10 to 20 cents instead)